Armed Forces: Missing Weaponry

Lord Hanningfield: asked Her Majesty's Government:
	How many (a) rifles; (b) guns; (c) mortars; (d) anti-tank weapons; (e) tanks; (f) armoured personnel carriers; (g) rounds of ammunition; and (h) explosives have been stolen or mislaid from property owned by the Ministry of Defence in each of the last five years.

Lord Drayson: In answering this question it has been possible only to give total numbers of items stolen or mislaid on a global basis, including those deployed on operations overseas. Specifying items stolen or mislaid from Ministry of Defence property would involve trawling through the details of each theft/loss report and would incur disproportionate effort. The number of Armed Forces-owned weapons that have been stolen in each of the last five years is set out below:
	
		
			 Year Pistol Mil rifle SMG LMG/G PMG Mortars A/Tank Antique/Other Shot Gun Baton Gun Tgt Rifle Total 
			 2001 3 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 6 
			 2002 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 4 
			 2003 6 0 0 0 0 11 0 0 2 19 
			 2004 3 11 0 0 0 4 0 0 0 18 
			 2005 5 4 0 1 0 1 0 0 5 16 
			 Total 19 18 0 1 0 16 0 0 9 63 
		
	
	The Armed Forces-owned weapons that have been reported as mislaid (lost), in each of the last five years is set out below:
	
		
			 Year Pistol Mil rifle SMG LMG/G PMG Mortars A/Tank Antique/Other Shot Gun Baton Gun Tgt Rifle Total 
			 2001 3 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 5 
			 2002 3 4 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 11 
			 2003 3 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 5 
			 2004 3 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 6 
			 2005 3 3 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 7 
			 Total 15 11 6 0 0 1 0 1 0 34 
		
	
	There have been no such incidents involving tanks or armoured personnel carriers. The ammunition and explosives that have been stolen in each of the last five years is set out below:
	
		
		
			 Year Pyrotechnics Explosives Small Arms Ammunition Blanks Other Total 
			 2001 5 1 5 0 0 11 
			 2002 0 1 486 0 0 487 
			 2003 1 0 10 0 0 11 
			 2004 2 2 7 1 0 12 
			 2005 3 2 4 1 0 10 
			 Total 11 6 512 2 0 531 
		
	
	The ammunition and explosives that have been lost in each of the last five years is set out below:
	
		
			 Year Pyrotechnics Explosives Small Arms Ammunition Blanks Other Total 
			 2001 1 0 0 0 0 1 
			 2002 0 0 2 0 0 2 
			 2003 0 0 0 0 0 0 
			 2004 0 0 0 0 0 0 
			 2005 0 0 0 0 0 0 
			 Total 1 0 2 0 0 3

Aviation Directorate

Lord Hanningfield: asked Her Majesty's Government:
	Further to the Written Answer by the Lord Davies of Oldham on 24 January (WA 154), from which companies or organisations are those individuals currently on secondment in the Aviation Directorate of the Department for Transport; and to which companies or organisations individuals from the directorate are currently on secondment; and in each case what position is held by each individual.

Lord Davies of Oldham: Further to the 24 January (WA 154) Written Answer, Aviation Directorate had two current inward secondees from the following organisation:
	
		
			   
			 Pay Band 6 Grade 7 Civil Aviation Authority 
			 Pay Band 6 Grade 7 Civil Aviation Authority 
		
	
	The four current outward secondments from Aviation Directorate were to the following external organisations:
	
		
			  
			 Pay Band 4 HEO OCTI Commission—Switzerland 
			 Pay Band 6 (Grade 7) European Commission 
			 Pay Band 6 (Grade 7) Civil Aviation Authority 
			 Pay Band 6 (Grade 7) English Heritage 
		
	
	Please note the pay band 6 posting to the Civil Aviation Authority has now ended.
	The following two Questions should have been printed on 2 March 2006.

Biochemical and Biological Research

Lord Elystan-Morgan: asked Her Majesty's Government:
	What is the approximate reduction in financial support for each of the biochemical and biological sciences research councils in England and Wales respectively in the next financial year (2006–07).

Lord Sainsbury of Turville: The Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) funds research across the UK. It received an increased level of funding from the science budget following the 2004 spending review. BBSRC's initial allocation was £336.186 million in 2005–06, £371.644 million in 2006–07 and £381.829 million in 2007–08.

EU: Pints of Milk

Lord Pearson of Rannoch: asked Her Majesty's Government:
	Further to the reply by the Lord McKenzie of Luton on 14 February (HL Deb, col. 1078), whether the United Kingdom retains the veto on any proposal by the European Union to prohibit the sale of milk in pints; or whether such prohibition could take place through qualified majority voting in the Council of Ministers, or through regulation by the European Commission.

Lord Sainsbury of Turville: The Commission's proposals to deregulate package sizes for most pre-packed products are still at an early stage. When they are considered in the Council of Ministers they will be subject to qualified majority voting. But as Lord McKenzie made clear in his answer on 14 February, there is nothing in the Commission's proposals, or in the amendments proposed by the European Parliament, which is any threat to current UK practice in the sale of milk.

Fungi

Lord Beaumont of Whitley: asked Her Majesty's Government:
	Whether as a result of recent changes to the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971 (a) landowners may be unwittingly committing an offence if they have fungi growing on their land which contains psilocin; (b) students of fungi may also be committing an offence if they collect such fungi; or (c) they expect landowners to eradicate such fungi to the detriment of biodiversity and scientists to cease such studies.

Baroness Scotland of Asthal: The Misuse of Drugs (Amendment) (No. 2) Regulations 2005 provide exceptions from the offence of possession of psilocybe fungi. The regulations make clear under what circumstances it is not unlawful to possess magic mushrooms. The regulations also enable my right honourable friend the Home Secretary to issue a licence in respect of the production, supply, offer to supply or possession of psilocybe fungi for research purposes rather than for general use. A person does not commit an offence of possession of psilocybe fungi if the mushrooms are growing uncultivated on their land. A person does not commit an offence of possession if they pick psilocybe fungi for disposal (that is, for destruction or delivery to a person who can lawfully take custody of them) as soon as is reasonably practicable and holds them in accordance with that purpose. The Royal Botanic Garden, Kew, for example, is licensed lawfully to take custody of psilocybe fungi for botanical and research purposes. There is no obligation on landowners to remove psilocybe fungi which are growing uncultivated on their land.

National Offender Management Service

Baroness Stern: asked Her Majesty's Government:
	Which private sector companies have expressed an interest in bidding for future National Offender Management Service contracts.

Baroness Scotland of Asthal: Seven private companies have expressed an ongoing interest in bidding for future major National Offender Management Service (NOMS) contracts for offender services. They comprise the five companies currently operating prisons, prisoner escort and electronic monitoring services (Global Solutions Ltd, Group 4, Securicor, Justice Services Ltd, Reliance Secure Task Management Ltd, Serco Group plc and UKDS Ltd) and two other companies, GEO Group UK Ltd and VT Group plc.
	The private sector companies that hold contracts for other NOMS services such as for IT and facilities management have expressed an interest in bidding for these contracts when they expire or as new contracts are tendered. A prospectus setting out future opportunities for the provision of NOMS services will be issued in spring 2006.

Prisons: Deaths in Custody

Lord Hylton: asked Her Majesty's Government:
	Whether they will consider suspending the application of the sub judice rule so as to enable the reports of the Prisons Ombudsman on deaths in custody to be published, once these have been delivered.

Baroness Scotland of Asthal: There are no plans at this time to amend the law so as to disregard the sub judice rule in respect of the reports of the Prisons and Probation Ombudsman on deaths in custody. The ombudsman will continue to provide bereaved relatives and other interested parties with a copy of his report and other related documents prior to the inquest. The ombudsman will also continue to publish anonymised versions of such reports on his website following the inquest.

Railways: East Coast Main Line

Lord Rosser: asked Her Majesty's Government:
	What are the implications for the Department for Transport's budget in 2005–06 and in future years of recent decisions by the Office of Rail Regulation in respect of services on the east coast main line.

Lord Davies of Oldham: The Office of Rail Regulation (ORR) has announced a provisional decision to grant access to Grand Central Trains to the east coast main line. Grand Central Trains will not require any direct government subsidy. Should Grand Central Trains abstract revenue from GNER, the Department for Transport (DfT) may be exposed to part of this risk. The DfT will also forgo premium from GNER if the Leeds half-hourly service is not introduced. The sums involved will depend on the ORR's final decision.

Railways: Franchises

Lord Rosser: asked Her Majesty's Government:
	Whether the Office of Rail Regulation is involved in discussions with the Department for Transport on the setting of service specifications in rail franchise agreements and on the implications for such service specifications of the award of open-access rail services to another operator over part or all of the same routes.

Lord Davies of Oldham: The Department for Transport (DfT) consults widely before setting the service specification for rail franchises. Part of this consultation is with the Office of Rail Regulation (ORR). The ORR's prime role is the allocation of available network capacity and setting Network Rail's user charges. The DfT consultation with ORR primarily covers understanding of our franchise specifications and the implications of these on network capacity. Open-access rail service proposals are handled by ORR, which consults widely, including with DfT, on whether applications for access rights should be granted.